NEVER NEVER NEVER

Aqrabuamelu The Gate Keeper To Darkness

I look back to see if Meretseger follows me behind. The view of the Tigris far away catches my eyes. Since crossing the ancient river, we steadily walk upwards. Meretseger smiles at me while one of the cobras wipes her sweat on her face. I turn my head back toward the snow-capped mountains.

We are walking along the vast valley called the Great Cedar Mountains—the mountains of Mashu. The vegetation entirely changed, and the tall cedars replaced large oak trees.  The temperature also gradually lowers. The valley is facing complete north—that is exactly where we are heading to. Even though Mount Ararat is still so far away, our eyes are firmly fixed on the destination.

Days have passed since we crossed the Tigris. We know the bounty hunters won't chase after us because this is already out of their territory. We are entering into no man's land.

The more I spend time with Meretseger, the more I realize she is the true princess. Even though she is a fierce warrior, she also has a very feminine and graceful side. Her grace shows up in every small gesture. I no longer call her 'The Cobra Woman.' Instead, I call her 'The princess' or 'The goddess.' I think she doesn't say it aloud, but she likes how I call her.

We walk deep into the forest. The more we advance into the valley, the more narrow it becomes. Both of the mountain ridges seem to become higher. I detect two cliffs almost meet each other, and the narrow horizontal slit divides two mountain ridges. This seems to be the only path to the snow-capped mountains.

The princess calls me from behind.

"Kojiro, This forest reminds me of the ancient legend my father used to tell me when I was little."

I turn around and ask her, "What is the story about?"

"At the mountains of Mashu, grow millions of cedars shooting up to the stars. At the end of the narrow pass, there stands the golden temple, the temple of Shamash. Two giant monsters almost touching the sky guard outside the gates of the temple of the Sun God."

The princess holds for a moment before continuing.

"Aqrabuamelu was created by the God of the Gods. Their terror is awesome. Their glance is death."

"My father used to tell me this story, and I was so frightened that I couldn't sleep alone."

She looks at me as if I am his father.

"Do you mean to tell me there are two giant monsters at the end of the pass?"

"If this ancient folk tail is correct," she affirms.

"What do you think, princess?"

"I don't know," she continues.

"They said the temple is the only entrance to Kurnugi, the land of darkness."

"The land of darkness?"

"Probably, they said it because it was beyond Sumer's territory, and no one went beyond that point."

"I see. I guess we are heading toward no man's land soon. But, I am more concerned about the giant monsters at this point."

"What were they called?"

"Agrabuamelu."

"Agrabuamelu," I repeat after her.

We walk in silence after the princess finish talking about the monsters. I repeat its name while reflecting on how to combat them.

If Agrabuamelus are as big as what ancients say, how can we defeat them?

Are there any possibilities?

I decide to talk to my battle partner about my concern.

"How in the hell can we defeat Agrabuamelu if they are that mammoth size?"

"I have no idea at this moment. I hope the ancients exaggerated this folklore."

"I hope so too."

There is no other road to Mount Ararat. So the only option we have is to face Agrabuamelu and defeat them. When my mind is agitated with turbulent thoughts, something shines far in the distance.

I look up to see what it is. Meretseger notices as well.

"I think it is the golden temple."

"The temple of the Sun God," I repeat.

"If the temple really exists," Meretseger continues.

"Agrabuamelu also exists." I conclude her sentence.

"We will probably get there before sunset. We have to plan how to defeat them beforehand." I affirm.

"But, how can we plan if we don't even know how they look like?"

"You have a point there."

"I know we will find the way somehow," encourages Meretseger.

We keep walking straight to the temple, and the reflection from the pyramid becomes brighter. Slowly the golden temple between the cedar trees becomes visible to our n***d eyes. It sits between two impenetrable cliffs. The rectangular pyramid sits quietly or rather ghostly in the cedar forest. On both sides of the temple stands the giant gate.

I carefully observe the surroundings to look for the giant Agrabuamelus. Beneath the branches, I can only detect many black chrome feet. They look like the feet of a monster-size insect. Gargantuan stingers rip the cedar tree. When I look up on top of the trees, I see the giants gazing at us.

The ancients didn't exaggerate. They are much bigger than I expected.

I freeze. My adrenaline rushes all over my body.  I try to calm myself down, inhale deeply and exhale slowly. I am ready to fight.

My gaze moves toward the princess, and I question, "Meretseger, they are a half scorpion and a half-giant human. They only have one eye. Did you see that?"

"Yes, I saw them both. Kojiro, don't look in the eye. The legend says their glance is death."

"I got you. I see there is a male and female. Let's try to strike him down first."

Male Agrabuamelu seems like he heard our conversation, and he flashes the high voltage beam at us from his eye.

"Watch out!" I scream and tackle Meretseger to dodge the laser beam.

"Now, I know why their glance is death," I exclaim.

The beam burns the trunk of the cedar tree nearby.

"I will strike his legs first. Once he is down, can you pierce his eye with your daggers? I know now that the eye is his fatal spot."

I hastily run toward his eight black feet.

"I got it. Be careful, Kojiro!" Meretseger's voice follows behind me.

Luckily, the cedars obstruct me from Agrabuamelu's eye. He keeps missing the target. I run and run toward him. My objective is to go underneath him and amputate his ankles off with my battle sword.

Agrabuamelu knows I am getting close to him, so he frantically fires the laser beams. He is getting frustrated as I keep escaping his killer weapons. 

I crawl underneath his body and aim my sword at one of his feet. My sword bounces back effortlessly. The body of the scorpion is as hard as steel. I try one more time, and it bounces back as if I bang a metal armor. 

"What am I going to do now?" A big question mark arises in my head.

The giant feet feverishly try to step me over. I keep shifting my balance following his body movement. While I contemplate, I seek to come up with a solution. 

"If his armor is as hard as steel, only weak points are joints, between the armors."

I aim my sword at a joint as if I am holding the dagger, rest the end of the sword between my chest, and push it forward with all my strength. Battle sword sinks into his flesh and pierces it deep.

Agrabuamelu roars his lungs out.

Now, I am in deep trouble. My sword is stuck deep in his flesh, and I don't know how to get it out. This is the only sword I possess. Agrbuamelu is moving his wounded leg frantically while he tries to strike me with his poisonous tail. It must be excruciatingly painful being pierced his ankle.  

I grab the hilt and pull as hard as possible with both arms while pushing my leg against his leg. His joint finally releases the blade. I am free to attack again.

I turn my body a hundred and eighty degrees and aim for the next foot. My target is precise, and I pierce my blade right in the joint with all my strength.

Agrabuamelu cries out loud.

I continue my swift movement, a third leg, a fourth leg, and a fifth leg, to bring him down. He hardly stands any longer. His roars hint at excruciating pain. He is supporting his entire body with only three legs. I know when I stab another leg, he will fall onto the ground.

I aim for my final kill. My blade sinks deep into his ankle, and Agrabuamelu groans loud. Two of his legs are no longer able to support his weight and start to collapse on top of me. I jump out from under his body like a flash. His sting tail narrowly misses me.

Agrabuamelu agonizingly falls to the ground, and his head is no longer touches the sky. I run fast and hide behind the trunk of a cedar tree.

Meretseger walks out of the shadow and fearlessly places herself in front of the monster.

Agrabuamelu tries to grab her with his large pincer. She swiftly ducks her body and moves quickly to avoid his fist. She holds her head tall and ready to strike. Ten cobras move frantically while holding the daggers at each mouth. The Goddess Durga is at work.

Agrabuamelu strikes her with his high voltage beam. She abruptly jumps sideways and rolls around the ground. While her body is in a circular motion, the cobras release ten daggers. All of them are flying straight to his single eye with ferocious speed.  Agrabuamelu doesn't even have a moment to blink.

All the daggers deeply pierce his black pupil, and he wails his lungs out. His howel echoes through the Great Cedar Forest. Both of his hands grab his face for protection. The blood spills over between the fingers. His hands are tainted in black. His head completely falls on the ground and crashes part of the golden temple.

Some of the daggers must have reached his brain because Agrabuamelu abruptly stopped moving. 

It isn't over. There is another female Agrabuamelu to overcome. She hisses viciously and triggers powerful beams uncontrollably as if she has gone mad. Meretseger and I run through the forest, retreating away from the Golden Temple. Female Agrabuamelu doesn't chase us deeply into the forest.

We have some time to catch our breath, hiding behind the rock.

"Wow, she has gone crazy. What shall we do now?" I reflect.

"I don't have any more weapons. I used them all." Meretseger frowns.

"I saw that. It's OK. We will somehow find a way to defeat her." I still don't have any idea at all.

"It is dark now. So we will attack in the morning when the sun rises over the mountains."

We decide not to burn the fire tonight. Agrabuamelu might find where we are and assault us during the night.

Instead, we find a cozy c***k at the bottom of the large cedar. The split is large enough for the two of us to crawl in and sleep inside. At least once we close the hole from inside, we are safe from wild animals. We have nothing to eat, but it doesn't matter to us because we are too exhausted even to eat.